Pass this on instead of another "chain email"

I just received another "chain email" (second one down the page) asking me to forward it to five friends in the next hour and that, if I do that, something good will happen to me at 11:11 (didn't specify a.m. or p.m.). I replied with this:

Now, here's a true story..., honestly. I had a grandma who really thought she was psychic. She proudly declared that at every family gathering and during just about every phone call. One time about 20 years ago she called us in the middle of the night very upset. She said that she had just had a terrible dream that ended with an image of a huge number 11 looming over her. She admitted that she didn't know exactly what that meant but she was certain that something bad would happen on the 11th day or the 11th month. Because it was early November, she told us not to leave the house on November 11th. She called us (and the rest of her friends and relatives) on November 10th to warn all of us, in her usual dramatic & frantic tone, to not leave the house the next day.

As far as I knew, we all ignored her warning because not a single one of her dozens of previous warnings, premonitions, prognostications and other claims of being psychic EVER panned out. So all of us left our houses and otherwise went about our business on November 11th anyway--but of course some of us were a bit wary and walked around with a slight sense of dread for the whole day. She called us (and presumably a lot of other people) a few times during the day to see if anything had happened. The day ended with nothing noticeably bad happening to any of us (with the exception of me losing my favorite pen at school. Kidding).

I remember her calling the next day and telling my mom, since she acknowledged that nothing seriously bad happened on November 11th, that maybe the "Big 11" she saw in the dream meant 11:11am or 11:11pm on an unknown day. So she warned us all to be real careful at those two times for the next several days. Well, you can imagine how we were all trembling at that warning. Again, nothing noticeably bad happened at all, much less at those specific times over the next several days. Or weeks. Or ever.

In fact, it has become a running joke in my extended family. For years afterward we called each other every November 10th and jokingly (or maybe with only half-jokingly) reminded ourselves about grandma's warning. When something bad (such as a car accident) happens to any of us, we break the tension by asking, "Um, I hate to ask this, but did you notice what time it happened? Was it..., (dramatic pause) 11:11????"

Gotcha! While the above story is true and my grandma really did all that, I'll bet you were disappointed that her warning wasn't accurate. Admit it: You were rooting for my grandma to be vindicated--even if that meant that something bad to happen to me or someone I cared about, that was of secondary concern. I'll tell you that all of us were pleased that nothing bad happened to us. As someone in the field of psychology, I'm interested to know why we WANT things like that to happen. What I want to know is, why would people WISH that my grandma's warning came to pass? Why is it important to some of us that there be psychics, prophets, angels, miracles, extraterrestrials, even when there is a complete absence of evidence? Isn't life itself interesting enough?

Now--if forward that story to five people in the next 20 minutes, you will have something kind of nice happen in the next month. Or two. It might not be anything miraculous. It might just be a friend buying you a cup of coffee. Or you might drop something and, to your surprise, it won't break into a million pieces. That will be the spirit of my deceased grandma holding it together so it doesn't break. BUT ONLY IF YOU PASS THIS EMAIL ALONG.